Talk:Cannonball/@comment-3511768-20130808023950/@comment-3122348-20130808051712
OMG, Yasmine, I can't imagine what your friend is going through. There are a lot of questions that need to be answered though in regards to whether or not she is pregnant. I know some of these questions can be incredibly invasive and personal but if she is depending on your support, it's better late than never to ask these questions as it is merely a process of elimination. Pregnancy symptoms differ for all women but most, like the ones you listed are synonymous amongst a lot of women who are pregnant, but are also relative to high stress levels too. Ask her when the last time she had unprotected sexual intercourse was and you should be able to determine whether these symptoms are related to pregnancy. While the egg is fertilised within 12 hours of sex, symptoms normally develop at least a week after fertilisation when the egg is implanted into the endometrium (lining of the uterus). Assuming she had unprotected sexual intercourse a week ago or longer, it is indeed quite possible that she could be pregnant but I wouldn't rule out the chance of her not being pregnant. While not all women experience this, ask if she has noticed any spotting on her underwear that's pink in colour because the pink is often a sign that the blastocyst has successfully implanted itself into the endometrium and is on its way to developing into an embryo and eventually foetus. You didn't mention that she missed a period either, which for now seems to be a very good sign as it shows her hormones are not entirely imbalanced. It is still quite possible and common (I think a quarter of women do) for a woman to bleed during pregnancy, however be cautious as this could be a sign of miscarriage, particularly if she is into the embryonic stage of prenatal development. As for breast tenderness, that is a very vague symptom and happens to a lot of women during ovulation as well. To be sure though, ask her to check her nipples and her areolas (the dark part around the nipple). If she notices any difference in colour, she should make note of that because it is often one of the best indicators to verify a pregnancy other than an pregnancy test or blood test. While she shouldn't panic now (I'm assuming she told you recently and that this hasn't been going through for over a couple of weeks), she should not completely eliminate the possibility of having a blood test or urine test at the doctors. The pregnancy test is only really a reliable method if she took it AFTER she expected to have her period because before that, the human chorionic gonadotropin hormone (HCG) is not normally at its peak and this hormone is only produced by a fertilised egg. Make sure that if she does have a blood test though, that she tells the doctor to read her HCG levels - that way, the doctor can know whether or not she may be pregnant. I know I wrote an essay, OMG, but all this stuff I learnt in my Year 11 health class last year, and I finally have an excuse to put it to good use. :P Tell her not to stress TOO much at this stage - it will only exacerbate her problems.